Sunday, December 12, 2010
Resident Owls
These owls have always hung around our place. At one point we believe they had a baby because we saw a much smaller third one. We see them occasionally but year after year they can be seen hanging in our neighbor's trees or on our block wall. Tony, our next door neighbor is a much better photographer and he took the pictures.
Christian
Christian
Base Ball Practice
Kaden is gearing up to play machine pitch baseball this year. The balls are pitched at about 30 mph. We don't get out very often to practice hitting, but he does pretty well. 
Christian
Christian
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Kaden ran his first official race!!
He did a great job!!! This was the Runner's Den/Fiesta Bowl Half Marathon/5K. He ran the 5K and did it in 30:50 which is 9:55 a mile!! He has ran a few unofficial 5K's and this one was much easier for him. He loved every minute of it. You can read and see more pictures of him on his running blogsite, click here.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Camping by Tucson
The site we now like to camp at has an elevation of 8500 ft. 
There are no restrooms or water; only fire rings.
We even brought out two basset hounds with us on this trip. The temps probably got into the upper 30's. The dogs slept in the vestibule part of the tent. I have to admit it was funny to hear Emmets teeth chatter. But they snuggled together in their blankets.
That weekend there was a marathon that ran up the main road going into the mountains. It is considered the toughest marathon in the world as it is uphill the entire way!!! It climbs more than 8000 feet!!! Check it out here
Christian
There are no restrooms or water; only fire rings.
We even brought out two basset hounds with us on this trip. The temps probably got into the upper 30's. The dogs slept in the vestibule part of the tent. I have to admit it was funny to hear Emmets teeth chatter. But they snuggled together in their blankets.
That weekend there was a marathon that ran up the main road going into the mountains. It is considered the toughest marathon in the world as it is uphill the entire way!!! It climbs more than 8000 feet!!! Check it out here Christian
Random pictures
This year, Kaden was Zoro and August was a soldier. 
We enjoy making the boys' costumes giving them a unique look. I remember growing up using whatever we could find to come up with a costume. It is fun to have the boys use the same imagination and creativity.
August loves to work on Laurel's hair making her "beautiful."
This was the boys' first day of school back in August.
Christian
We enjoy making the boys' costumes giving them a unique look. I remember growing up using whatever we could find to come up with a costume. It is fun to have the boys use the same imagination and creativity.
August loves to work on Laurel's hair making her "beautiful."
This was the boys' first day of school back in August.
Christian
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Family Fun Run
We did a Family Fun Run today. It was one mile. Kaden is wanting to begin training and so we had fun with this run. August is not as into it as Kaden.
This was one of the few moments that August decided to run...
At Kaden's age, the kids start fast and then have bursts of speed when they think you want to pass them. This was difficult for Kaden to gauge as every time he wanted to pass a kid they would sprint ahead. I coached Kaden to keep his pace and eventually after a few episodes of sprinting they began to fall away.
I was very proud of Kaden with this race. This is basically his first race that he really planned and prepared for. The course was not quite a mile, but I would guess that Kaden was running about an 11 minute mile!
Christian
This was one of the few moments that August decided to run...
At Kaden's age, the kids start fast and then have bursts of speed when they think you want to pass them. This was difficult for Kaden to gauge as every time he wanted to pass a kid they would sprint ahead. I coached Kaden to keep his pace and eventually after a few episodes of sprinting they began to fall away.
I was very proud of Kaden with this race. This is basically his first race that he really planned and prepared for. The course was not quite a mile, but I would guess that Kaden was running about an 11 minute mile!Christian
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Vacation 2010
We had a great time in Glacier National Park this year! The Walds were up there the entire time, so all the cousins had a great time together. The weather was perfect and every day was wonderful.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
I am all finished!!
I finished Police Academy and am now a full authority police officer for the City of Maricopa. Here are a couple of pictures of graduation night. I will try and upload the video of our time at academy later if I can. 
San Diego!!
Well, I finished Police Academy. I will post some pictures soon. It is so good to have finished. My parents flew down this week for the graduation ceremony and then we went over to San Diego for a quick vacation. It had been a long time since my parents had visited the ocean.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Hockey is now finished
The boys are waiting in line to get an autograph from Howler, the mascot for the Phoenix Coyotes.
The boys want to continue with hockey, so perhaps in the fall, we will sign them up for a longer course that works primarily on their skating technique.
Here you can see both the boys. August is in the yellow and Kaden is in the white.
August must be resting for a minute in this picture! ;-)
Christian
The boys want to continue with hockey, so perhaps in the fall, we will sign them up for a longer course that works primarily on their skating technique.
Here you can see both the boys. August is in the yellow and Kaden is in the white.
August must be resting for a minute in this picture! ;-)
Christian
Aunt "T" comes to visit
It was nice for Aunt "T" to come stay with us. She shared some amazing recipes. The boys loved hanging out with her.
Of course, Aunt "T" found our legos and couldn't help herself.
This year just like every other year. Birds have built their nest in our hanging planter. You can see it off to the left in this picture. I usually hated to have them nest in it as they eventually kill the plant.
The first year we didn't think much of it and she had her babies there. Every time we went out on the patio she would fly off and then come back to her nest when we went back inside.
The second year her babies died (along with my plant) and she tried again the same year (right after I put a new plant in it, sigh). This time, she would stay in her nest when we went outside. She would only fly away if I attempted to water the plant right next to her. The second time around, the babies did fine. We also were able to watch them leave the nest for the first time and practice flying off of our wall.
This third year, she became so used to us that I could water the plant while she stayed in the nest. She treated it much like a bird bath. As we told Aunt "T" the story she actually was able to observe the baby's first time getting out of the nest. These are the pictures that were taken. Laurel said later the next day before they flew off for good, the mother bird landed on the table in our patio area and was looking into the house (she had never done this before). Laurel felt it was almost her way of seeing if we were home to watch them take off for the last time.
Christian
Of course, Aunt "T" found our legos and couldn't help herself.
This year just like every other year. Birds have built their nest in our hanging planter. You can see it off to the left in this picture. I usually hated to have them nest in it as they eventually kill the plant.
The first year we didn't think much of it and she had her babies there. Every time we went out on the patio she would fly off and then come back to her nest when we went back inside.The second year her babies died (along with my plant) and she tried again the same year (right after I put a new plant in it, sigh). This time, she would stay in her nest when we went outside. She would only fly away if I attempted to water the plant right next to her. The second time around, the babies did fine. We also were able to watch them leave the nest for the first time and practice flying off of our wall.
This third year, she became so used to us that I could water the plant while she stayed in the nest. She treated it much like a bird bath. As we told Aunt "T" the story she actually was able to observe the baby's first time getting out of the nest. These are the pictures that were taken. Laurel said later the next day before they flew off for good, the mother bird landed on the table in our patio area and was looking into the house (she had never done this before). Laurel felt it was almost her way of seeing if we were home to watch them take off for the last time. Christian
Monday, April 12, 2010
Hockey
This is the boys' first year and they learned to skate so quickly and are picking up on the basics of hockey just as fast. They love it!! August is the one in yellow and Kaden is in a white jersey.
August is doing so well! He was bumped up into the intermediate group his second time on the ice.
Kaden is doing very well too. He was put into the advanced group right off the bat. He keeps telling us that he is pushing himself so hard to learn.
August is doing so well! He was bumped up into the intermediate group his second time on the ice.
Kaden is doing very well too. He was put into the advanced group right off the bat. He keeps telling us that he is pushing himself so hard to learn.
